The Autism Matrix

Today autism has become highly visible. Once you begin to look for it, you realize it is everywhere. Why? We all know the answer or think we do: there is an autism epidemic. And if it is an epidemic, then we know what must be done: lots of money must be thrown at it, detection centers must be established and explanations sought, so that the number of new cases can be brought down and the epidemic brought under control. But can it really be so simple? This major new book offers a very different interpretation. The authors argue that the recent rise in autism should be understood an "aftershock" of the real earthquake, which was the deinstitutionalization of mental retardation in the mid-1970s. This entailed a radical transformation not only of the institutional matrix for dealing with developmental disorders of childhood, but also of the cultural lens through which we view them. It opened up a space for viewing and treating childhood disorders as neither mental illness nor mental retardation, neither curable nor incurable, but somewhere in-between. The authors show that where deinstitutionalization went the furthest, as in Scandinavia, UK and the "blue" states of the US, autism rates are also highest. Where it was absent or delayed, as in France, autism rates are low. Combining a historical narrative with international comparison, The Autism Matrix offers a fresh and powerful analysis of a condition that affects many parents and children today.

Gil Eyal is Professor of Sociology at Columbia University Brendan Hart is Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University Emine Oncular is Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Sociology at Columbia University Neta Oren is Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University Natasha Rossi is Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Sociology at Columbia University

Acknowledgements	p. viii
Introduction: The Autism Matrix	p. 1
Why focus on therapies?	p. 9
The genetics of autism	p. 14
Diagnostic change	p. 18
Between mental illness and mental retardation	p. 25
The Puzzle of Variation in Autism Rates	p. 41
Diagnostic substitution	p. 46
Supply-side and demand-side explanations for diagnostic substitution	p. 49
Deinstitutionalization as key to explaining diagnostic substitution	p. 55
Deinstitutionalization and the variation in autism rates	p. 58
The Feebleminded	p. 76
The Surveillance of Childhood	p. 83
The unification of mental deficiency and mental hygiene under child psychiatry	p. 85
The role of the middle-class family	p. 89
The institutionalization of children and the comprehensive surveillance system	p. 91
Deinstitutionalization	p. 98
A new look at the deinstitutionalization of the retarded	p. 98
The middle-class family and the ôvalorization of retarded existenceö	p. 105
ôAn existence as close to the normal as possibleö: Normalization	p. 111
Normalization as therapeutic practice	p. 114
Behavior modification and normalization	p. 122
Childhood Schizophrenia	p. 127
The Rise of the Therapies	p. 141
Autism therapies in the 1950s and 1960s	p. 143
Working on the child's brain	p. 148
Inculcating habits and building skills	p. 151
Blurring the boundary between expert and layman	p. 153
The space between fields	p. 161
Bernard Rimland and the Formation of NSAC	p. 167
The parent-activist-therapist-researcher as a new type of expert	p. 172
The problem of credibility	p. 176
Schopler and the new economy of blame and worth	p. 178
Autism parenting as a vocation	p. 183
The implications of behavioral therapy	p. 186
Conclusion	p. 190
The Atypical Children	p. 194
The struggle over inclusion in the Developmental Disabilities Act	p. 197
Autism as concurrent with mental retardation	p. 199
Looping and the transformation of autism	p. 205
Asperger and Neurodiversity	p. 212
The riddle of simultaneous discovery dissolved	p. 213
ôPersonality traitö vs. ôpsychotic processö	p. 216
Twins reunited	p. 223
Loops of self-advocacy	p. 226
The Space of Autism Therapies and the Making and Remaking of the Spectrum	p. 234
The return of Rimland	p. 236
The agonistic network	p. 239
Blurring the boundary between medicine and alternative medicine	p. 244
The space of autism therapies	p. 250
Conclusion	p. 257
Notes	p. 270
References	p. 287
Index	p. 307
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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